September 27, 2012 – RI Future

September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Hatch Act Accusation Doesn’t Hold Water

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It turns out what may have been Jon Brien’s best chance to remain a state representative might have been decided in Utah earlier this summer.

Brien held a press conference today claiming that Steve Casey, the Woonsocket fire fighter who beat him in the Democratic primary, was ineligible for public office by way of the Hatch Act, the law that prevents federal employees from running for office. But according to an article from the Salt Lake Tribune a similar complaint was dismissed in Utah earlier this summer.

According to the article:

A federal review has cleared Unified Fire Authority Chief Michael Jensen to run for a fourth term on the Salt Lake County Council.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel last week rejected a complaint by Utah Democrats that Republican Jensen’s re-election bid violated the federal Hatch Act. That law bars government employees who oversee federal funds (or are paid with them) from seeking or holding partisan elected offices.

Brien said the Utah case isn’t applicable because Casey, he thinks, directly benefited from a $300,000 federal Homeland Security grant used for training.

Still, Brien’s legal opinion on this one might just be biased. Others say he is stretching the Hatch Act beyond its logical conclusion.

“By the logic of the soon-to-be-former representative no state or municipal worker in the country would ever be able to run for office,” said Bob Walsh, of the NEA-RI. “He didn’t raise this question when he was confident he was going to win the primary.”

Brien, for his part, said he didn’t know about the Hatch Act until Monday, when Lou Raptakis, who brought a similar complaint against a fire fighter he defeated in a primary, shared the information with him.

But Brien may want to be careful about just how stringent he wants to the Hatch Act to be applied. He serves as the city prosecutor for both Woonsocket and Central Falls. Woonsocket pays him $18,000 a year and Central Falls pays him $24,000.

He said because he is paid as a independent contractor, he isn’t constrained by the Hatch Act.

“I have no conflict whatsoever,” Brien told me. “I don’t fit the definition of an employee. It’s not a technicality, it’s a condition of the U.S. tax code.”

September 27, 2012

Barry Hinckley: Tea Party Republican of Choice

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Remember when Republican Senate candidate Barry Hinckley courted out-of-state political donors by saying, “Although many of you who live out of state cannot vote for me – remember, I can vote for you.”? Well, it seems as if one out-of-state group has taken him up on the offer.

Hinckley was endorsed by the Freedomworks PAC on Tuesday, which on its website describes itself as “leading the fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.”

You can say that again.

Freedomworks is the anti-tax astroturfing group that secretly organized the first tea party protests in 2009, according to The Atlantic.

Here’s how a article in The Guaridan described the group:

It was set up by one of America’s richest men, David Koch, an oil tycoon who has funded rightwing causes for decades.

FreedomWorks receives funding from the tobacco conglomerate Philip Morris, as well as from Richard Scaife, another business tycoon, who for years helped fund dirt-digging investigations into Bill Clinton. Local branches of Americans for Prosperity have also received tobacco money; the group has opposed smoke-free workplace laws and cigarette taxes.

In the environmental area, too, there has been an affinity between the groups and the corporate interests that back them. ExxonMobil was a sponsor of Citizens for Sound Economy, and both FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have campaigned vigorously against Obama’s plans to reduce CO₂emissions through a cap and trade scheme, working closely with the American Petroleum Institute.

It’s endorsement of Barry Hinckley should speak volumes to Ocean Staters. I’m pretty certain most Rhode Islanders want our Senators to represent Rhode Island, not the Koch Brothers and ExxonMobile.

September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

RI Small Businesses: Beware of ALEC’s Minions

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Jon Brien recently announced that he would be running a write-in campaign to retain his seat in Rhode Island’s House of Representatives.

At a press conference to announce the egotistical continuation of his campaign on September 20, Brien was surrounded by owners of local business including Pepin Lumber, The Burrito Company, and American Beauty Signworks. This is pretty ironic, given his involvement in the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

ALEC is an organization that promulgates legislation written by, and to the benefit of, giant corporations, like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and hundreds of others, the vast majority of which make no bones about the fact that the expansion of their operations inherently drives small, local businesses out-of-business.

Why these business owners would choose to support a candidate that is involved in an organization that is actively trying to decrease their market share is beyond comprehension.

Brien is much more than just a member of ALEC, he serves on its board of directors. He and Republican state Senator Francis Maher, Jr. serve as ALEC’s co-chairs in Rhode Island.

The majority of business owners and citizens in Woonsocket — whether they support Brien or the winner of the primary, Stephen Casey — would agree that our taxes are too high, but that statement invariably has an unspoken addendum, which is, “Our taxes are too high in relation to the services provided in return.”

Brien can rail against the tax rate all he wants, but where and when has he ever demanded a proportionate increase in city and state services in return for those high rates? He hasn’t, and that’s because he is a small-government neo-conservative masquerading as a Democrat.

I would urge all small business owners in Rhode Island to be wary of supporting candidates that are in any way associated with ALEC. The last thing this state needs is an influx of big-box stores and corporations — or legislation that favors them over the small businesses that contribute to the character, richness, and the local economy of our great state. They may set up shop here, but the jobs they create are usually low-paying, providing few or no benefits to their employees, and their corporate profits often wind up out-of-state, and in many cases, overseas.

September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Progress Report: Brien Brings Hatch Act in Woonsocket, New Leaders Project’s ‘Pro Jobs’ Agenda; State Sues Orphan

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downtown from providence river — Downtown Providence from the Providence River. (Photo by Bob Plain)

Rep. Jon Brien thinks he can retain his House seat without winning the election. His path to victory: eliminating the man who beat him in a primary. Brien thinks the federal Hatch Act might prohibit fire fighter Stephen Casey from serving in the state legislature because the Woonsocket Fire Department got a $300,000 grant from the U.S. government.

Like RIPEC’s report itself, the Providence Journal’s editorial on it is light on specifics and heavy on platitudes. It strikes me as patently false when politicians, activists or the news media assert that Rhode Island doesn’t have a governmental position to serve the business sector of the state’s economy. You don’t have to like the EDC, but intellectual honesty requires its existence at least be acknowledged!

The New Leaders Project, a local political action committee that endorses State House candidates, is confounding some for its unconventional endorsements. The PAC says it advocates a “pro-jobs” agenda but what does that really mean? Well, its president, East Greenwich School Committee member Jack Sommers, was fined by the Department of Labor Training in 2010 for not paying an employee nearly $2,000 in wages. Pro jobs but anti pay check, I guess…

One year after closing five schools, Providence education officials are anticipating student enrollment to “surge” by some 2,000 students, says the ProJo. The so-called ed reform movement seems to work far better at shrinking public education than it does at serving it.

So here’s pretty much all you need to know about what America values in its workforce: NFL refs should get pensions, but public school teachers on the other hand, not so much…

You know things are getting bad in Rhode Island when the state is suing its orphans. Miss Hannigan would be proud.

Seems like the debate over a mega-port at Quonset is heating up again. For those who don’t remember, the idea for a deep water port at Quonset pitted quality of life in North Kingstown against economic development for Rhode Island.

No one wants the Cranston father-daughter dance controversy to continue … except of course local Republicans and national conservative groups who are using the situation as an opportunity to beat up on the ACLU.

Here’s what the mayor of Phoenix said after trying to live on food stamps for one week: “I’m tired and it’s hard to focus.”

Back in 1967, it was Republicans accusing Democrats of being “brainwashed” by the “military industrial complex.”

September 27, 2012

Brown’s Push Poll on Pension Politics

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We’ve heard a little bit about the difference between a politician testing a message and push polling this campaign season, but what exactly is a push poll? It’s when a pollster asks a question in a way that begs a certain response.

For an example, see this question on pension politics from the recent Brown University Taubman Center poll on Providence and its finances:

Cities and towns in Rhode Island and across the country are facing unprecedented budget shortfalls as a result of unfunded pension liabilities for firefighters, police officers, and other city workers. Many people say the pension spending is “out of control.” Which of the following items would you 1) support or 2) oppose, to control spending on municipal pensions?

First off the question starts with the assertion that the topic at hand is responsible for a nation-wide fiscal epidemic. One can make that argument I suppose, but the pollsters didn’t start any other question with such disclaimers. Secondly, the pollster frames the issue as being “out of control,” pure emotional terms, and then attributes it to the all-encompassing “many people” catchall – which, by the way, in journalism roughly translates to ‘I couldn’t nail this down but I’m certain a lot of people think it.’

Here are the results:

Eliminate the cost of living adjustments for all city pensions: support 48.5%; oppose 35.1%; don’t know/no answer 16.4%

Offer a “defined contribution” retirement plan similar to 401K for all city employees? support 67.3%; oppose 15.8%; don’t know/no answer 16.9%

Raise the age at which city workers can retire: support 45.9%; oppose 43.8%; don’t know/no answer 10.3%

Require city workers to work for a longer period of time before retiring: support 48.0%; oppose 37.9%; don’t know/no answer 14.1%

Raise the amount of co-payment city workers pay for health insurance: support 42.4%; oppose 46.1%; don’t know/no answer 11.5%

The poll was conducted be researches at the Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and the John Hazen White Public Opinion Laboratory. I’m not insinuating the “Public Opinion Laboratory” that bears his name would push his politics, but Hazen White isn’t exactly a neutral actor in efforts to cut pensions.

Plus, according to the press release, the poll was “undertaken in conjunction with” the Center’s annual conference in October. This year’s topic, by the way, is: “Pensions in Peril: How Municipalities Are Defusing This Fiscal Time Bomb.”

I’m sure the John Hazen White Public Opinion Laboratory wouldn’t want to go into the conference on how pensions are a “time bomb” without some data to show that the people of Providence agree. And it seems like it asked a pretty baited question in order to get such a result.